Business group says Inland Empire needs to prepare for Latino majority

SAN BERNARDINO - The Inland Empire's demographics point to an eventual Latino majority, but the region is not quite prepared to help younger Latinos enter leadership positions when they reach adulthood.

"The Latino population is not represented in leadership," Inland Empire Economic Partnership CEO Paul Granillo said during a Thursday morning seminar. "I spend a lot of time with government. I spend a lot of time with business, and the Latino population is not represented in leadership at the highest levels."

The Inland Empire Economic Partnership is a business advocacy group active in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Thursday, the organization hosted a seminar on the economics and culture of the region's Latino community at Norton Regional Events Center near San Bernardino International Airport.

Inland cities that have Latino majorities include San Bernardino, Ontario, Riverside, Fontana, Victorville and Moreno Valley. All of those cities have more than 100,000 residents.

Granillo and IEEP chief economist John Husing, said the region's demographics create an imperative for business leaders and educators to create leadership training programs to help Latino students understand politics and leadership before they leave school.

"You need to train people to be leaders. It's not something that just happens," Husing said. "If they have never learned how power works, it's not that obvious."

Granillo and Husing said other key issues affecting the Inland Empire's Latino community, most of which are native-born or naturalized citizens, are educational attainment and California regulatory agencies' affects on blue collar industries.

Among the region's Latinos, 7.8 percent have earned a bachelor's degree or higher. That compares with 27.3 percent among other racial groups.

"Here is the big challenge," Husing said. "How do we change these numbers? We sure don't do it by cutting our education budgets."

Husing also criticized California environmental agencies, such as the California Air Resources Board.

He maintained that as long as so many Latinos and others in the Inland Empire need blue-collar industries to be in good health to obtain well-paying jobs, the agencies' single-issue regulatory focus means officials do not balance environmental concerns with economic ones.

Husing has previously advocated for a state agency that would be empowered to overturn or delay environmental regulations that may stymie job growth.

"State policy, unfortunately, is not doing any favors to the Hispanic community," Husing said.

The IEEP plans to hold future seminars on other regional issues, such as the logistics industry, Granillo said.